Final Trip...Barcelona!

Lauren and I went on our final trip of the semester to Barcelona. We still have 3 weeks left but my parents, sister and brother-in-law are coming to visit this upcoming week and then we have just 2 weeks of school left so this was our last free weekend. It was a phenomenal way to end our semester of traveling!

We got in Thursday afternoon and checked into our hostel. It was nice because we got a private room and it ended up being a full apartment for 4 people and we had it all to ourselves. The only downside was that it wasn’t centrally heated and it was freezing at night. It was raining on our way to the hostel but when we left to start sightseeing, it had cleared up so it worked out great! We went to the Rambla and first saw the Boqueria Market, which was a market of fresh fruits, juices, smoothies and other foods. It was incredibly inexpensive…I got a large tub of fresh kiwi and strawberries for only 1 euro. On the right is a picture of me there. Then we went to see Palau Guell (one of Gaudi’s creations), Placa Reial and the cathedral. We didn’t enter any of them but just walked around and took pictures. Then we went to Park Guell, which we had to take a ton of escalators to get to and it was an incredible view of the city! When Lauren and I first saw the view, we were like, “Ah. That’s Sagrada Familia!” We really enjoyed our time in the park and got lots of pictures (two below). Then we went to the Plaza de España to meet Sammy and her boyfriend Dan for dinner on the top of the old bullfighting stadium. He had gotten in that day and they are traveling Europe for a month together because Sammy just finished school. We were a little early so we ended up going shopping, of course! And since they outlawed bullfighting in Barcelona, they turned the stadium into a shopping mall so it worked out perfectly! We went into Mango to look at dresses for Lauren for Feria and I ended up finding a romper! Finally! I’ve wanted one for so long :) After, we met up with Sammy and Dan and went to this authentic Catalan restaurant. It was so great to see them and catch up! Sammy helped us plan our whole next day and it was extremely helpful!

On Friday, Lauren and I checked out of our hostel by 11AM and were ready for a full day of sightseeing. We first went to Casa Batlló and paid to go in. We spent about an hour and a half there because we got a free audio guide and it was really cool to see and hear about Gaudi and his inspirations. On the left is a picture of us outside on the balcony. Then we went and saw Sagrada Familia (below left). The inside of the church was absolutely incredible and we saw Gaudi’s tomb and museum. We also took a lift up to the top and got another gorgeous view of the city (below right). They are still building the Sagrada Familia so it was cool to see the top that wasn’t finished. There were so many masterpieces up there that you wouldn’t see unless you went up. 

After that we went to a restaurant Sammy recommended for the “menu of the day”. This means you get 2 courses, a drink and dessert all for a set price and ours was 9.5 Euros. Lauren and I split a salad, pasta, chicken and steak. It was a ton of food and very good! Then we went to the beach and saw the Mediterranean Sea. We were getting pretty tired and it wasn’t warm enough to lay out so we went to a coffee shop on the beach for a little while. Then we climbed on a giant ropes structure on the beach. After that we went to the Parc de la Ciutadella and saw the Arc de Triumph. Our feet were hurting so badly at this point so we headed back to the hostel and changed and got ready for the night. Our plane left at 5:55AM because we accidently booked it wrong so we didn’t even get a hostel that night because we had to be at the airport by 4AM. We just locked our stuff up in the hostel from the previous night and then headed out to dinner by the beach and got vegetable paella. Then we went to a bar and beach club to stay warm until taking a taxi to the airport. We met a guy in the airport from the U.S. named Drew and Lauren and I talked to him for a while...it helped pass the time! Lauren and I were so tired when we got home Saturday morning at 9AM. We finally were able to go to bed and slept until lunch :)

My parents are coming in tomorrow and Sarah and Matt are coming in on Thursday. I am extremely excited to show them around Sevilla and spend one of my last weeks here with them.

To the End of the World and Back...Portugal!

My friends Lauren, Kristen, Katie and I went to Portugal this past weekend (April 13-15) for a beach weekend through a company, We Love Spain. The weather was not as nice as we were hoping but we were still able to lay out on the beach...it was just a little chilly.

On Friday, we went to a beach in Albufeira for a couple of hours and laid out and we climbed on some gorgeous rocks. Then we went out to dinner. Lauren and I found this really cute Italian restaurant and got sparkling white wine and celebrated Holly’s birthday (picture of us below). They didn’t have any Barbie drinks on the menu but I plan to celebrate again with Barbie drinks when I get home :) My entire theme of this weekend was to love life and it was a blessing being able to be completely immersed in God’s gorgeous creation while doing so. That night we went out with We Love Spain because they organized a bar tour for us. At the first bar, right when we walked in Journey was playing and we were all singing along. We then found out that it was a live band! Lauren and I loved the band and the songs they were playing so this made for a really great night! After the band, there were a couple of bartenders doing tricks and that was really cool to see. We went home shortly after this because we didn’t want to stay out too late.

On Saturday, we went to three cool places on our way to Lagos for the day. The first place is called the “end of the world” because before Columbus discovered America, they thought this was the end of the world. It looked like it could be the end of the world because we were on top of these giant cliffs, overlooking the ocean (pictured above). It was so incredible to see and it was one of the coolest places I have ever been! The next place we went to was called Punte de Piedad and it was full of red cliffs and aqua blue water (two pictures on the right)! And then we went to Dona Ana beach, which is the most popular beach in Lagos. We only stayed there for about 30 minutes to get some pictures because it started raining. Then we went into the city center of Lagos and ate lunch and did some shopping and looking around. We stayed in this night and had a girls night!

On Sunday, we went to another beach in Albufeira. It was the warmest but also the windiest day. We were able to lay out on the beach but when I got home that night I had sand engrained in my hair and all over my body. I did get some sun though! We also got some fruity drinks and Mexican food at a restaurant near the water while we were there. This was probably my favorite day because it felt the most beachy!

It was a great weekend, relaxing with my friends. School is starting to pick up, as I have a lot of presentations, final projects, and casos prácticos (case studies) due, as well as exams coming up in the next couple of weeks! I go to Barcelona on Thursday and then my parents come on Sunday and my sister and brother in law come on the following Thursday so I am really excited for them all to visit before I take my finals and head back to the U.S.

John in Spain!

I got back from London Saturday night and John flew in Sunday morning! His plane ended up being delayed but he got in around 2PM. I was planning on running up to him and giving him a hug but I had so much stuff at the airport that I couldn't leave it behind nor run with it...so it was kind of a lame first hello but at least my luggage didn't get stolen! We took the airport shuttle bus and then a taxi to the hotel. It was a gorgeous hotel and made for a great week! My parents and sister and brother in law are all staying there when they come visit in just a couple of weeks so I am living in luxury for half of April! The week John came we also had a week break because of Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Sevilla. It basically consists of about 30 Catholic men carrying "pasos" which are huge wooden boards decorated in gold paper and have the Virgin Mary and Jesus carrying the cross pictures on them. You can see a picture below of what I am trying to explain. It also consists of other Catholics wearing all black and tall black pointy hats and they walk in front of and behind the pasos (yes, it looked like the KKK). There were just huge processions and the pasos are meant to show the journey of Jesus' last days.

With that said, John and I went into el centro where the pasos were taking place and experienced this cultural event a couple of days but also saw the rest of the city. It was raining on and off all week but we managed to “dance in the rain” and still have an awesome week in Spain!

Here is a breakdown of our week:

Sunday:

- Got dinner at a local Spanish restaurant near the hotel

- John bought a Sevici bike pass that was the best purchase of the entire trip because we used it ALL week long! …Even got caught in the pouring rain a couple times while biking

- We went on a late night bike ride to try out the bikes and keep John awake due to his jetlag. On this bike ride, I may have overestimated my ability of lifting the front tire to hop up on a curb and completely fell off my bike in the park. I have never fallen off a Sevici bike and I was pretty embarrassed. I even scratched up my arm and hip…at least I had something to show for it! Side note…when I was on the ground after my fall, John just stood there in complete shock and laughed. Thanks bf :)

Monday:

- John got to see my neighborhood and school

- We went shopping in Nervion Plaza and bought John a new “euro” outfit

- Got dinner at a burger/milkshake place and I was loving the “American” food

- We went to the Sevilla vs. Mollorca Soccer Game and I bought a Sevilla scarf. Sevilla won!

Tuesday:

- We saw the Cathedral and Giralda and were able to go inside. We weren’t able to go up the Giralda because of Semana Santa but at least John still got to see the inside of the Cathedral.

- We went to las setas (the mushrooms) in el centro. You get a gorgeous view of the entire city.

- We met up with my intercambio Jose and he showed us around el centro a little bit and took us out to eat at a really fun Spanish restaurant

- Later in the night, we went out with Jose for a couple of drinks

Wednesday:

- We spent most of our morning at Alcazar… the beautiful gardens in el centro. It was so nice just to relax and there were lots of peacocks!

- We went to 100 Montaditos for dinner (because everything is 1 euro on Wednesday’s) and John was able to see what I do every Wednesday night!

Thursday:

- We took the train to Cádiz (the beach)! It luckily didn’t rain while we were there so we were able to enjoy the weather and gorgeous beach and city.

- We ate dinner at Telepizza once we got off the train in Sevilla.

- We went to Buda (a club/bar) with Lauren and Gonzalo and had a fun night getting dressed up and hanging out with them! Gonzalo and John bonded over cars :)

Friday:

- We went to my apartment and my señora and her husband had John and I over for lunch!! They were so excited to meet John. My señora brought out her nice tablecloth and placemats and fancy china glasses (that I had never seen) and she even bought apple wine (when we never have anything besides water). She went all out and it was so great to see her so excited about meeting him! She is 83 and her husband (my grandpa) is 87 so this was truly an event for them.

- John and I went to a café right by my apartment and got drinks while we waited for the rain to pass.

- Then we went to the park and rented a boat to go around the Plaza de Espana! It was really fun and John taught me all of his mad rowing skills.

- We went out for Italian food with Gonzalo and Lauren and walked by the river and Torre de Oro and got some good pics. Then we got ice cream (it tasted so American…it was thick and I was loving it!) and went and saw one of the night pasos. 

Saturday:

- We went to el centro and did some more shopping and looking around.

- We ate at a really cute Italian restaurant outside in el centro.

- We went to the park and rented bikes. I always see people biking around on these bikes so it was really fun to finally rent one!

Sunday:

- John’s flight left at 6:55AM so we were up by 3AM. We wanted the taxi driver at the hotel to take us to the airport shuttle bus because it would save us a lot of money but he tried to tell us there were still strikes and he had to just drive us all the way to the airport. Little did he know, I live in Spain and know the buses are running so we ended up walking about 40 minutes with all of our stuff to the bus at 4AM just to save money (learned from the best…our parents) and caught the bus. It was really hard to say goodbye to John for a second time and on Easter. But it was so great to see him and it was such a blessing he was able to come!

Londres!

I went to London to visit the one and only Liz Hizmi from March 29-31 and got to see Maddie and a lots of other friends who are studying there, as well as Kristie and Emily from home!! They were going to visit London for their spring break so I was able to see them on the 31^st before I had to catch my flight! It was such a blessing to see everyone and all the sites in the beautiful, city-bustling London!

I flew with Lauren and Kristen on the way there but they were going to visit some of Kristen’s friends so at the airport we split and I had to find the bus to get to Liz. After freaking out a little bit because this was the first time I was traveling by myself, I got on the right bus just five minutes before it left! Liz met me at the bus station and we got some food because I was starving. There were strikes going on in Spain all day so I wasn’t able to get food in the airport because everything was closed! After I got some food, I was ready to start sightseeing! We went and saw the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye and Harod’s!

The next day was a full day of sightseeing the city! We met Maddie in the morning and went to Buckingham Palace right away and saw some of the guards! Then we rented bikes and rode through gorgeous green parks with ponds, and saw Kensington Palace and the Orangery (where you get tea at the palace). We then got the 4 pound “meal deal” where you get a drink, chips and a sandwich for that low price…London was SO expensive! And the Liz took us on our very own bus tour where we got to see the Olympic Countdown, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus and so much more of the city! Maddie and I then went to Hampton Court Palace because Liz had to go to a study session. It was a little bit out of the city so it was really cool to see the more residential area of London. It was just as gorgeous as the city! We got to see Henry VIII’s palace and gardens. Even though he wasn’t the nicest guy as he killed a lot of his wives, he had an absolutely stunning palace and property. It was great to wander around the palace and catch up with Maddie! After Hampton Court Palace, we met back up with Liz and went to a pub for dinner and got cider beer…it was delicious and very "London". And then Liz and I were heading back to take some pictures by the Olympic countdown and we saw a giant mass of people. We asked one of the guys and he said it was called the “masses in London” and they get together the last Friday of every month and bike, scooter, skate all around the city in one big clump. It was amazing to see…there is always something crazy fun going on in London! We went out to a bar/club that night with Maddie, Megan and a bunch of our friends (pictured on the right)…it had the most gorgeous view of the city! The tubes (subways) close at midnight and don’t open back up until 5ish so Liz and I had to take the bus back to her apartment. It got a little bit interesting when we got off the bus at the stop and it was a very sketchy area! We ended up calling a cab and got home safely but we were both a little freaked out at first!

My final day in London, Liz and I went to the Tower of London. I loved seeing the Tower Bridge and the famous Crown Jewels. Liz had already been in the Tower of London quite a few times and it was expensive to go in so I took it on by myself while she waited at a local coffee shop for me. There was so much to see in the Tower of London and I loved all of it! The Crown Jewels were probably my favorite, along with seeing the carvings in the walls that the prisoners did while they were being held there. There was so much history there and it was absolutely incredible to be there and experience a little part of it. Then we went to get Kristie and Emily at the airport and I was able to spend a little bit of time with them before I had to head back to my airport and catch my flight.

 

London was a blast and I can’t wait until I’m reunited with my roomies next semester in Madtown!

Xoxo, Rebekah

Morocco, AFRICA

I went to Morocco, Africa this past weekend (3/22-24/12) with my program, CIEE. We were there for 2 nights, 3 days and traveled to 3 different cities: Tetuán, Tánger, and Chaouen.

Before I start the break down of what we did every day, I just want to say that I was not expecting Morocco to be how it was. When I think of Africa, I think of Africans and safaris, not the "Middle East" but since Morocco is so far north, it is Arabic and not "my idea" of Africa. I didn't know this until we got there but I still loved it! It was such an amazing opportunity to experience another culture.

We took a fairy from Spain to Africa and passed through the “frontera” where they stamped our passports…finally I got a stamp on my passport; every other time I have traveled I haven't gotten a stamp. But we went immediately to an Artesian workshop school where we saw students and teachers making intricate wooden and metal designs and sowing crafts. We then went to exchange our money into dirhams and I kept a couple of dirhams left over so I will always have money from Africa! About 10 dirham = 1euro. We got lunch after this and I was so scared to eat because a. if you know me at all, you know I don’t like trying new and exotic foods and b. I really didn’t want to end up in the bathroom the entire trip because my stomach couldn’t handle something I ate so I was very careful at every meal! After lunch, we went on a long tour through Tetuán and saw the outside markets where they just have fish and meat and eggs and everything sitting out in the boiling sun…it’s like nothing needs to be refrigerated over here in Europe! Above is a picture of the fish just chilling at the market. At the end of a very long day of traveling and walking, we went back to the hotel and Lauren and I passed out at 10PM. Oh, there is also a time difference in Morocco, so a lot of people got all ready and were down to eat breakfast an hour early but after Lauren and I talked about it for 20 minutes (haha, it took us a while), we figured out the time change and woke up on time!

Luckily we didn’t wake up any earlier than we had to because this next day in Tánger was a really long but awesome day! It was by far my favorite day! We first visited a Coca-Cola factory (as our company visit for the trip) and it was literally awesome to see the process!  Coke is to me as tea or coffee is to you so I was so excited this was the company we were visiting. We had to wear these white gowns and shower caps when we went into the factory so we made sure to get lots of pictures sporting our new outfits. Then we went and visited the caves of Hércules. The hole looking out into the water is said to look like Africa…I can see it (pictured above). And then we went down to the ocean and took lots of pics. On the left is me jumping on one of the rocks by the ocean. I never fail to almost break a leg or stop having fun! We then got to ride CAMELS!!! This is what I was most looking forward to and I was so happy when we actually got to do it. After the fact, someone brought up how scared they were on the camel and at that point it just dawned on me that it def was not the safest thing! But while on the camel that didn’t even cross my mind and this can be seen by me with my arms up in every pic…I wasn’t even holding on! I am the one on the farthest left...the only one with 2 arms up :) We ate lunch by the ocean and had this chicken, honey dish…I actually really liked it and this was my favorite meal while there! Then we went and visited the Tánger business school and met some Moroccan students. They showed us around their school and it was quite boring…until we went into the game room and I kicked some Moroccan guys butt in ping-pong! Thanks mom and dad for the ping-pong table in the basement! We then had free time and went shopping. Lauren and I bought Betis jerseys (they are one of the soccer teams in Sevilla)) and loved bargaining with the Moroccans. We then went back to our hotel and passed out once again.

On our final day in Africa, we went to Chaouen. It is a city in the mountains and has traditional blue houses and streets. It was absolutely gorgeous! Clouds were literally passing through us... I don’t think I have ever been that high up and our bus driver almost killed us about 10 times on the way up the mountain and down because he was driving crazily and there was nothing stopping us from falling right off the road! But after a few scares, we made it up and down in one piece! We didn’t have as much time in this city as the other days but we took a lot of pictures and explored. There was a gorgeous waterfall/river we stumbled upon and I felt like we were in the jungle for a second. We ate lunch there and then headed back to the border and took the fairy. It was super windy on the way back so I got really sea sick on the boat. And after 7 hours of traveling, we made it back safely to Sevilla on Saturday night.

It was truly amazing to see something as different as Morocco, Africa. I want to return to Africa in the future…and next time, for a SAFARI!

I am going to London on Thursday to visit Liz and see my roommates, Kristie and Emily, who are visiting from the U.S. and then John gets to Sevilla on Sunday! Such an awesome weekend ahead :)

Córdoba y Más de Sevilla

This past weekend I stayed in Sevilla and took a day trip on Saturday to Córdoba with my program. We visited the Mezquita there and it was gorgeous! All of the columns had the same red stripes. Here is a picture of me in the Mezquita!

We then toured the gardens there and found a cute café outside and had drinks and ice cream. It was a really relaxing day! Saturday was also St. Patty’s Day so when we got back we went to this huge tent party in a park. There wasn’t any green beer but at least we found somewhere that was celebrating St. Patty’s Day (it isn’t nearly as big here)! Then we went to Tex Mex, an American Bar close to the Cathedral, and were able to catch the 2^nd half of the Madison basketball game!! We saw them win and make it to the Sweet 16 so that was awesome! Still so happy to be a Badger, even here in Spain. And I was finally able to eat some mozzarella sticks, which I have been craving for some reason since I left. It was such a fun and chill night out in Sevilla!

On Sunday, I went to the park with my intercambio Jose and we spoke in Spanish for a full hour and English for a full hour. I can see my Spanish improving each time we hangout and I am really excited about this! We also got into a spiritual conversation and I could see God at work. I am praying God would continue to use me here in Spain!

We got our exams back today from our midterms and I did a lot better than I had expected. I am much less stressed about school now so that is a huge blessing!

Some other random, interesting things in Sevilla: Tuesday the 13th here is equivalent to our Friday the 13th so when it was Tuesday, the 13th a couple weeks ago our señora made a joke about it being eerie and Lauren and I didn't understand the reference until we learned this! And another random thing is that I never used to like game shows but after watching the same game show every night during dinner, I am starting to become a fan! I think I could win some Euros on this show, even in Spanish because we watch it so much!

I am off to Morocco tomorrow until Saturday night. Africa will be the 4^th continent I've been able to travel to so I am getting really pumped! I will be blogging about my experience there sometime next week! :)

xoxo, Rebekah

Paris!

I went to Paris March 8-11, the weekend right before my midterms! And even though I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to study for my exams, it was worth it because Paris is one of my favorite cities so far!

I traveled to Paris with Lauren and we met Liz there in the hostel! We stayed in a hostel a little bit out of the city but it was right by a Metro station so it was a great location! In Paris, you take the Metro everywhere and it was really easy to use! It reminded me a lot of the subway system in NY. As soon as we got checked in, we went to this cute Crepes place by our hostel. It may have been a little bit overpriced but everything in Paris was so much more expensive than what we are used to here in Sevilla and the crepes were really good! Then we met up with one of Lauren's friends who is studying abroad in Paris, Bailey, and she took us to the Louve, where we saw the Mona Lisa, The Wedding Feast, the Napoleon Apartments, Venus de Milo and much more! Everyone said that when they saw the Mona Lisa they were really disappointed because it was really small, but I was not disappointed at all...I thought it was absolutely incredible!

Then we went to a cute cafe called Angelina for their famous hot chocolate. It was extremely rich and was 7 Euros for one cup! I couldn't even finish the whole cup but it was really good! For dinner, we went to a very French restaurant by Bailey's apartment and I ate a Madame, which was bread, cheese, eggs, and ham with french fries and a salad. It was delicious!

The next day, we signed up for a 4 hour free walking tour through the city! Before this long adventure, we got sandwiches and took them down by the river and had a little picnic. They were very good and it was a good change to have meat on the sandwich, unlike here where it's basically all bread and maybe one slice of turkey or ham. The tour was awesome! We saw so many sites, including the Locks Bridge, Notre Dame, Latin Quarter, Pont Neuf, Palais Royal, Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Tuileries Gardens, Napoleon's Tomb, Arc de Triomphe, and a couple more stops along the way. I loved the Locks Bridge because it was something I had always wanted to see and it was so cool being there! Here is a picture of me on the bridge.  On the tour, we found out that there were orange stickers on some of the windows of the Louvre and these were the windows that could be broken into if there every was a fire. This was definitely my favorite random fact of the day :)

Later in the day we went to Galeries Lafayette and did some shopping and Lauren's friend Carly who is studying abroad in London but was also in Paris at the time came and met up with us! We ate at a cute pizzeria for dinner. The waiters loved us and made us pizza in the shape of a heart! They also brought out a life size pepper shaker! After dinner, we went to the Eiffel Tower to see it when it was lit up (it sparkles for the first 5 minutes of every hour after 6PM)...and little did we know, we were on the same train as the LaBrasca's! They were also going to the Eiffel Tower and we were able to go there and experience it with them, loving life! This was such a blessing :)

The next day, our final day in Paris, we went to the Eiffel Tower again (to see it in daylight) and climbed and took the elevator to the top! It was gorgeous to see the city and be on top of the Eiffel Tower, which is the #1 most visited tourist destination! I got goosebumps every time I saw it, just feeling so blessed to be there and experiencing it!

Then we took the Metro to St. Michael’s Fountain and got sandwiches again from a different restaurant and went to a bakery and I got an apple dessert. We also got chocolate crepes…so many sweets in one day but France is known for their bakery items and crepes! We then went to Paul’s (Liz’s favorite café in London) and Liz got coffee and we waited for Bailey and Carly to meet up with us. Once they met up with us, we went into Notre Dame and saw some of our friends from our program in Sevilla. We talked with them outside for a little bit and then we went uptown and saw Moulin Rouge (Red Windmill) and that was really cool! Then we went to the top of this hill that overlooked the entire city and there was live music and this guy doing crazy soccer tricks on a platform. On the right is a picture of Liz and I with the soccer guy! Everyone was just chilling and hanging out with their friends! This reminded me of Summerfest and got me really excited for the summer! We then went back to Bailey’s apartment and made dinner there…cheaper and healthier J Then we headed back to the hostel and got to bed because we had to be up at 6:30AM the next day to catch our flight home to Sevilla! It was definitely a successful trip to Paris and I am so blessed to have friends like Lauren and Liz to share that with!